NHL labor talks on hold while 76,000 pages are reviewed

Working at the paper tonight and came across a wire story from Damian Cristodero of the Tampa Bay Times. The reporter seemingly had an in-depth conversation with Lightning forward B.J. Crombeen, who was part of the NHLPA’s negotiating committee during meetings with the owners Tuesday and Wednesday in New York.

“Every single player and I’m sure every single owner is thinking they can and want to get this done on time,” Crombeen told Cristodero. “It really comes down to being able to play our game and making sure we’re not missing anything.”

The current collective-bargaining agreement (CBA) expires Sept. 15 — a little more than five weeks away — and the 2012-13 season MIGHT not begin in October without a new deal. The season can begin without a new CBA but a lockout is more likely.

“Everyone wishes there was a deal in place now, but it’s something that takes time to understand,” Crombeen said. “I think you can always wish it was further along.”

The two NHL sides began talking since late June, and the players are still reviewing the owner’s first revised proposal that includes cutting players’ revenues at least 10 percent — from 57 percent to 46 or 43 — and a 22-percent rollback in player salaries (according to the Associated Press).

According to the latest NHLPA’s update — posted here yesterday — the owners want to take what amounts to $450 million annually out of the players’ pockets.

NHLPA chief Donald Fehr and his team are in the process of reviewing some 76,000 pages of the proposal before a counter-proposal is delivered to the owners, and that $450 shrinks to sensability. Fehr was indirectly quoted as saying “the players do not view September 15 as a ‘magic date’ and that under the law the season can begin and continue normally unless one side decides to shut it down.”

In the same update, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is quoted as saying the proposed revenue sharing deal is “more inclusive” but “quite similar” to the current one.

I would tell the owners to stick it. If they wanted me to take a 22% pay cut they first open their books completely to the players union (under non-disclosure).

Why should the players take a pay cut to make the billionaire Kroenke family richer?

Here’s hoping that the KHL and other European leagues become competitive with the NHL on a revenue basis and give the NHL owners a run for their money.

http://www.facebook.com/nick.anderson.5 Nick Anderson

It’s not so much about the owners getting more money as it is saving these poor teams. Teams without the finances to stay competitive. Or teams spending money they don’t have (kovalchuk). The players are starting to demand higher salaries in free agent markets which doesn’t only potentially bankrupt a team but makes them lose cornerstones of the organization. Parise. Suter. Bryzgalov. Weber. Even players like Sakic signed an offer sheet before the cap came. The revenue and proposals the NHL are trying to work out would make this league remain competitive rather than who has the bigger pockets.

Puck Me Up

Since when could anyone call a professional sports team owner “poor” with a straight face? The main reason the free agents want or expect these huge paydays is because some GM’s and some owner are willing to corner the market by offering these ludicrous contracts in the first place. That’s why the guys you mentioned above can “demand” big payouts, because teams are willing to overpay for above average skills. IMO, there have been only a handful of guys who have deserved these giant paydays over the past 15 years. Sakic was definitely one of them!!!

brock329

Speaking of ‘on hold’, what is up with the Ryan O’Reilly negotiations?

Bob_W

It is slightly misleading to say they are asking players to take a 22% salary cut. They are not proposing to cut existing contracts but to roll back the salary cap by 22%. So teams would still honor existing contracts. Teams that wind up over the new cap would have to shed players and replace them with lower salaried players. This is the way that the league as a whole tries to police individual teams who write huge contracts. If they tie increases to the cap to league revenue as they have done in the past the salary cap will creep up again each year until the next CBA expires and they will want to cut the cap again. The 22% figure is one thing the players and owners will negotiate.

brock329

Interesting concept in light of the huge amounts of money offered to the likes of Weber, Parise, Suter, etc. I would say approaching hypocritical!

Bob_W

Or schizophrenic or both!

Anonymous

The teams scream “please help save us from ourselves” which is a bunch of nonsense. The players already get paid less than the other leagues comparatively and now want them to fo from the best revenue sharing to the worst? Will this be another lost season? Do they really think they can do this without losing fans permanently?

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.

Chambers covers college and professional hockey for The Denver Post. He has written for the Post since 1994, after dumping his first 9-to-5 office job a couple years out of college. He primarily follows the University of Denver hockey team and helps cover the Avalanche.